Students Rate St. Edward's Highly

In the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), St. Edward's University exceeded the national average on all five benchmarks, including academic challenge, collaborative learning, student-faculty interactions, enriching educational experiences and supportive campus environment.

The Kozmetsky Center Receives a Grant to Support the Distinguished Fellows Program

I am delighted to announce that the RGK Foundation has honored the Kozmetsky Center of Excellence in Global Finance with a $75,000 grant to support a new program: the Distinguished Fellows Program starting Fall 2011.

The Distinguished Fellows Program will connect St. Edward's with experts on current global issues using an interdisciplinary perspective. The distinguished fellows will:

Work with faculty and students for one year, including a two-week residency.

Bring a global perspective to bear on projects as diverse as scholarly research, course enhancement, service projects in the community, and study and service abroad.

Provide an extremely valuable resource to the Kozmetsky Center for consultancy on future programming, and new collaborations with other institutions.

With this new program, the Kozmetsky Center will be able to undertake a new slate of in-depth activities reinforcing the university's approach to a personalized education. This new program will dramatically increase the depth and breadth of the Kozmetsky Center's impact since residencies will be planned and structured well in advance to match the needs of our students and university. It will also facilitate the inclusion of a global perspective across the curriculum, essential to fulfill the goal of the Kozmetsky Center to prepare students for living and working in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world.

The relationship with the Distinguished Fellows will be developed in three stages:

Before the residency, Distinguished Fellows will coordinate with faculty members in customizing co-teaching and class visits to syllabi and new academic initiatives.

During their time on campus, Distinguished Fellows will participate in luncheons, lectures, small group discussions and one-on-one in depth mentoring to students.

They will mentor students before and after residency through phone conversations, Skype and e-mail.

They will support the enhancement of curricular and co-curricular programming and facilitate collaborative research. While in-residence, they will co-teach and work with faculty on curriculum development and course enhancement. They will also continue to be available to faculty and students to develop collaborative projects and provide advice and support.

I am confident that the Distinguished Fellows program will be a real catalyst to advance knowledge and help our students acquire the skills, tools and leadership necessary for today's world. This will be the most significant outcome of the collaboration, exchange and interaction between the Distinguished Fellows, the university and the broader community.